Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Hi guys. Something i would like to share..

Well after working for a week or so as customer service at chan brothers, i learnt lotsa stuff..tangibles like the information abt other countries and travel stuff. but of course the more impt stuff are the intangibles like handling people, about working life and how the real world is like. Being a teenager, i must say that before i tried working, i thought that i was ready for the real world. i thought that i was mature enough. Well, i was, but only to a certain extent, even with the experience i gained from ncc in handling ppl(:

But anyway, work was interesting to me as i learnt alot of stuff abt other countries. However, answering calls regarding a whole plethora of matters, ranging from the easy calls for enquiries to the calls from nasty customers that are irritating ad nauseam, is not as easy as it might seem.
So ytd i had a call from someone who demanded to speak to a certain person but she wasnt arnd. Then he demanded and demanded but the higher-ranked the person he wanted to see, the more angry he got cuz all of them happened to be busy or not in. From manager to GM to director. So aside from the verbal abuses he gave to me and my snr (i passed the call to my snr after i knew i couldnt handle it) in the end it was settled by one of the tour consultants. That incident was fcked up but still was okay relatively.

But today i had another incident that truly affected me. That customer's tour happened to be unable to leave as there werent enough ppl, so they were supposed to be transferred to another tour. However, he said someone called MrLee told him that the tour just needed 4 more ppl to leave. So i tried to find whos that Mrlee but in the whole dept there's only one mr lee and he said he didnt speak to a customer with such enquiries. So after a few calls, when i told him i really couldnt find Mr Lee, he exploded on the phone. From the phone i could even hear him bang the table and he shouted "bullshit" so loudly that i couldnt hear what he said at first. and then came the whole myriad of indecent vulgarities that of course included the f word and at that time i was controlling my own anger like mad. Was shaking with anger, thoughts zipping through my head as quickly as the blood that rushed. He even threatened to write to the press, for goodness sake. What a bitch man. Ended up, my snr tried to handle it but in the end was my manager who handled it. After i passed the phone to my snr, i was alrdy shaking internally, and as much as i told myself its not worth it being angry for such a person, its not worth it, tears started to form alrdy, as a result of controlling all that anger. But i managed to curb my own anger temporarily after a visit to the toilet to take a look at myself in the mirror and to tell myself to calm down. Really have to thank a few of my pals-cum-colleagues there for trying to help, with words like "take it easy". Yup so i continued taking a few more calls before it was time to go.

My parents came to fetch me from work as i was supp to go get my contacts. mhmm at first i tried not to show my feelings but my mum could see that i had that sian look so she asked and the moment i started talking abt it, i totally burst into a fusion of tears and rage that i had held in my chest for the past hour or so, and god i can say that its the most painful feeling - holding such fury in ur chest. My chest still hurts a lil when i take a deep breath now, even if its already quite a few hours after i let it go.

So, i talked abt it to my parents. They let me get it off my chest before sharing a lil of their own experiences and all. I even learnt that my cousin, whos working as a doctor now, had his own experience. My aunt told my mum that he locked himself in his room, crying cuz of some incident at the workplace when he was just a houseman at the hospital or sth. Yup so parents might discipline you or whatever, but when u need them, i guess they are always there for u when u need them(:

Yup so i definitely grew up a lil and learnt alot from this incident per se. Dont worry i'm alright now i guess, except for that nagging feeling that is in my chest when i take a deep breath. As the saying goes, what doesnt kill you makes you stronger. Indubitably, I'm stronger mentally as a result..So to that particular customer, Mr Gan, i've to say both fck you and thank you. To that MrLee whose identity we dont know- Damn, i wish u knw how much stuff u caused just cuz of the wrong info u gave and ur total irresponsibility.

Mmhm this shall be my personal AAR(after action review for those who dont know) but thought that i shld share this with yall. To sum it up, if you want to know the real world and whether ur ready for it and to check out how mature u actually are, do try working part-time and if possible, customer service wld really challenge you, esp if ur as unlucky as me to get such customers. Yupp cheerios ppl! shall take a deep breath and smile(:

soulful writings by andreww at
8:10 AM
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